ifilm exclusive with 'The Kingdom of Solomon’ star Amin Zendegani

Famed Iran actor Amin Zendegani sits down with ifilm for an exclusive interview on his artistic voyage and latest developments in acting career.

The popular Iranian thespian well-known for historical series and movies such as ‘Lost Innocence’ by Davood Mir-Baqeri and 'The Kingdom of Solomon the Prophet’ by Shahriar Bahrani could capture the audience’s heart with no difficulty. He also appeared in well-liked Iranian series ‘The Rise of Mokhtar’ as Muslim Ibn Aqeel which raised his popularity even more.

Since we are in the mourning month of Muharram and the key roles this actor have played in many religious and historical cinematic and TV projects are of significance, iflim Persian has conducted a talk with Zendegani.

Below are the highlights of what he said to ifilm.

ifilm: Mr. Zendegani, how come you are best known by historical TV or cinematic projects while you have starred in numerous non-historical ones?

Zendegani: Well, I should say that is an added plus and a blessing in disguise that I’m acting in historical projects. I like the dream/fantasy that happens in such works and very much like the passage of time in them. Loving this is hard, though. While working in these historical presentations is rather hard these days, the long-lasting effects of starring in such project on the audience’s mind seem tempting.

ifilm: When you’re offered a role in historical projects, do you have a fear of reprising your previous roles and that the audience may not believe your fresh role in such films and series?   

Zendegani: You see, in moments when I was playing my roles in 'The Kingdom of Solomon the Prophet’ and ‘The Rise of Mokhtar’, I think I had to act as I was destined to do so. It is no underestimation that my historical roles became a success due to the fact that the characters themselves were great in history.  Meanwhile, those behind the camera for such projects helped me out.

I know that our audiences have the right to watch us in different roles, though our hands are tied when it comes to selecting roles and directors are giving recurring roles to actors. To deal with this, first and foremost, I run away from repeating myself. I only compete with myself. The new generation of actors may consider acting as a battle ground to win for sure. However, the whole pleasure and truth of acting is to reach harmony in a group.

Taking up roles in ‘The Rise of Mokhtar’ and 'The Kingdom of Solomon the Prophet’ was a rarity. I don't know what good deeds I did in my life that I [deserved] this. I was blessed by God for playing these two roles.

ifilm: Mr. Zendegani, at the end of this chat, can you tell us what you're up to these days?

Zendegani: I am shooting for a TV series entitled ‘Better Days’ which is a social-familial project. I also have some screenplays in hand, still considering which one to go for as my upcoming project.

AG/AG